


need a ride?

by hi_raeth



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, a backflip-inspired ficlet with no backflip, even better: they're MARRIED spies, loosely inspired by TRoS teaser, they're spies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 02:29:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18489433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_raeth/pseuds/hi_raeth
Summary: What’s the point of being a spy if you aren’t going to take every opportunity to be extra as fuck, anyway?Or: the one where Rey and Ben have perfected their Power Couple exit strategy.





	need a ride?

The street is completely silent save for the occasional gust of sharp October air blowing through with a wail. Inside the darkened skyscraper, not a single alarm has been tripped and not a single guard has abandoned their patrol route to go investigate a break-in they won’t learn about until the next morning at the very earliest.

“Yet another job well done,” Poe compliments his crew as they emerge from the loading bay’s side entrance, holding a hand out for their spoils. Finn drops four flash drives into his supervisor’s waiting hand with a grin.

“Couldn’t have done it without Rey here,” he points out just as Rey locks the door behind her, careful to leave everything just as they’d found it. “What did I tell you? Didn’t I tell you she’s the best? And you didn’t wanna believe me.”

Poe shakes his head with a rueful laugh. “Hey, standard protocol,” he tells Rey. “I can’t just go around contracting every lone wolf Finn here recommends. But you’ve definitely lived up to the hype.”

Rey steps closer to the group as her hand slides into her jacket pocket, activating the little beacon sewn into the lining. “Thanks, I guess? It wasn’t anything special, really–”

“Nothing special?” Rose, the third member of their barebones crew, sputters in disbelief. “Rey, we’ve been trying to get through that encryption for _months_. The way you sliced through all of it in _minutes–_ ”

“You should know that Rose here isn’t easily impressed,” Poe cuts in. “And neither am I. But after tonight, you’ve more than proven yourself to the team. And we could really use someone like you, if you’re interested.”

The offer takes her by surprise. _Just once, peanut,_ Finn had begged on the phone. _A one-off, I promise, and then you can go back to doing whatever it is you’re up to these days–_

She turns to him now to find him with a hopeful, beseeching look on his face that’s entirely too familiar. But while those big, pleading eyes might have worked on her when they were children, too much has changed in the years since for her to even consider this. “I’m flattered, really, but–”

“You don’t need to make up your mind now,” Rose chimes in. “Just think about it, okay? It’s dangerous for a lone operative out there.”

Poe nods in agreement. “Even the best of us could use someone to watch our backs every now and then.”

Finn steps forward. “They’re right, peanut. You know I worry about you being all alone–”

The rest of his sentence is drowned out by the cacophony of an approaching chopper, and all three members of the Resistance pale as they look up to find the helicopter coming closer and closer towards them, until Rose’s unzipped bomber jacket flaps in the artificial wind while strands of Poe’s hair break free from his carefully-styled coif.

Poe raises his voice to be heard above the din. “It’s heading right for us! Split up, team!”

Rose and Finn obey with a moment’s hesitation, all three of them racing off in separate directions without so much as a look back at the perceived threat until–

“Rey, what are you doing?” Finn demands, turning back to her with fear in his eyes.

The helicopter casts a shadow over her as it flies by, and Rey gives Finn a smile as she readies herself. “It was nice to see you again, peanut. I’ll call you sometime!”

And with that, Rey breaks into a sprint just as a coil of rope spills out from the chopper that hovers just fifty feet overhead, dangerously low unless the pilot knows what they’re doing.

Her husband knows exactly what he’s doing.

After all, they’ve had months of practice.

The rope ladder falls effortlessly into her waiting hand, the helicopter holding steady even as Rey takes the first step up. As soon as she’s secured herself on the first rung she turns back to wave goodbye to Finn and his team, Poe and Rose having returned to his side as soon as they realized they weren’t in any danger.

The concern on Finn’s face gives way first to understanding, and then amusement. “Why the fuck do you have to be so _extra_?” he yells up at her with a grin, the last of his words barely discernible to her ears as the helicopter slowly gains altitude. They should – and _could_ – be ascending much faster than this, but Ben has a thing about not wanting her to dangle more than a hundred feet above ground.

Guided by expert hands, the chopper gracefully weaves around the obstacles in their path, careful not to make any sudden movements that might fling the ladder – and Rey – into the side of a skyscraper. She climbs up with practiced ease, shutting her eyes against the stinging night air that sways her side to side. It’s a shame, really, that she can’t just stay like this for the rest of the ride, but she knows that every second she spends dangling from the helicopter is a minute shaved off of Ben’s life.

A fond smile tugs at her lips as Rey shakes her head at her worrywart, and not one minute later she’s flinging herself into the helicopter and pulling the ladder back up. She doesn’t allow herself a look at Ben until the door slides shut, and even then she’s afforded only a glimpse of his back from his spot in the cockpit.

He keeps his eyes trained straight ahead as Rey slips into her seat and pulls on her headset.

“Hi, honey.”

Finally, Ben turns to her with a smirk. “Hey, sweetheart. Did you have fun with your band of rebels and traitors?”

Rey rolls her eyes at him. “You do realize you’re just as much of a traitor as Finn is, right? You both abandoned FO.”

Saying that still sends a little thrill down her spine even now, even when she goes to bed every night with Ben safely by her side rather than hidden away in some underground bunker with his shady, manipulative boss.

“That’s different,” he insists.

“Really now?”

“FN left because he was a coward,” Ben says with a shrug, though the words have been drained of their bite after all this time. “I left for love.”

He spares her another quick look then, his earlier smirk quickly melting into something infinitely more sincere.

Just three short years ago, Rey could never have fathomed a look this soft in the eyes of the world’s deadliest assassin. Now he’s her partner in crime and in life, and this is the look she’s lucky enough to wake up to every morning.

Ben smiles at her before he turns back to the sky. “Where to, sweetheart?”

Rey sinks into her seat with a smile of her own, warmth blooming in her chest as she relishes her one-word answer and all it encompasses.

“Home.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, funny story: I’ve been calling this my ‘backflip-inspired ficlet’ ever since I came up with the idea. And then somehow it ended up not having a single backflip?? And half of it is just Rey fielding a job offer from the elite Resistance team of Poe, Finn, and Rose??? But hey, if married spies is your thing (it’s my thing, apparently), then I hope you’ve enjoyed this.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading and please don’t hesitate to leave a comment!
> 
> Alternatively, come say hi on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hiraeth_writes) or [Tumblr](https://eleanor-writes-stuff.tumblr.com/)!


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